Search suspended for man swept from sandbar Friday

Milford Mirror

Published
9:42 am EDT, Saturday, July 22, 2017

UPDATE: Fire officials on Saturday suspended their search for a man swept Friday from the sandbar at Silver Sands Beach and assumed drowned.

On Saturday near evening, fire officials released the following statement: The Milford Fire Department has officially suspended search and recovery efforts for the victim of yesterday's drowning at Silver Sands Beach. A large portion of Long Island Sound in the area of Charles Island was methodically searched by marine and airborne units from multiple agencies. Units employed side scan sonar technology in order to locate the 28 y/o male, but were unsuccessful.

EARLIER ARTICLE: Milford fire and police will be searching Long Island Sound Saturday for the body of a man swept yesterday into Long Island Sound off the Charles Island sandbar.

The Milford Fire Department will conduct the search until about 1:30 p.m., and then the Milford Police Marine Unit will take over the search, fire officials said.

According to Milford Patch, the victim is a 28-year-old Stratford man, who is presumed dead.

The man was swept from the sandbar Friday, according to Fire Battalion Chief Anthony Fabrizi. Fabrizi said that at about 12:45 p.m. Milford fire dispatch received a 911 call reporting that two men in their mid 20s had been swept off the Charles Island sandbar.

One of the men was wearing a life vest and was rescued by a private vessel and was evaluated by fire paramedics on the scene.

The second man was wearing a backpack and had slipped below the surface of the water.